ROOFTOP RESTAURANTS are a rarity in the city. For this reason, the few that exist are real crowd-pullers. One such joint is the Ambady Food Court on the Bakery Junction-Vazhuthacaud road.

The ambience here is nothing to write home about. Plastic moulded chairs and tables form the seating arrangement and potted plants add a touch of greenery. But once you indulge your passion for good food, you forget all discomfiture.

Only dinner is served at the rooftop restaurant; there is a separate section for lunch.

Try soups for starters. Though we, Indians, have tried to bring in our versions of soups such as mulligatawny soup (read rasam) and rice stock soup (a glorified version of kanji), the Chinese ones are still the best bet. Ambady Food Court offers a variety of soups to choose from -- hot and sour chicken soup (Rs. 30), hot and sour vegetable soup (Rs. 25), cream of chicken soup (Rs. 25) and cream of mushroom soup (Rs. 25). But sweet corn chicken/vegetable soup (Rs. 25 and Rs. 20 respectively) offer value for money.

Ambady Food Court serves both fish curry meals (Rs. 25) as well as vegetable meals with curd (Rs. 20). Then, there are the staple fried rice and noodles. Vegetable fried rice is priced at Rs. 30, chicken fried rice at Rs. 45, egg fried rice at Rs. 35 and mixed fried rice at Rs. 45. If you favour noodles, you can choose from vegetable noodles (Rs. 30), chicken noodles (Rs. 40), or mixed noodles (Rs. 45). The adventurous can go in for beef noodles (Rs. 35). A variety of biryani is also available.